Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Bill Dellinger Invitational
Rams cross country struggles in Oregon
10/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 4, 2008
By Josh Kruger
Athletic Media Relations
EUGENE, Ore. – After two wins against fairly easy competition to start the season, CSU’s men’s and women’s cross country got a rude awakening on Saturday. Facing nationally ranked competition for the first time, both teams finished eighth out of nine teams in their respective races.
“It was a very tough day,” a very disappointed Head Coach Bryan Berryhill said.
Redshirt freshman Ellie Rastall was once again the top finisher for the Colorado State women, finishing the 6K race in 21st place with a time of 21 minutes, 31.91 seconds. Senior Marissa Saunders was the only other Ram to finish in the top 25, finishing in 24th place. The top-ranked Oregon Ducks won the overall race, followed by No. 11 Arkansas and Penn State.
“We know we’re a young team and we definitely ran like one today,” Berryhill said. “You could tell it was a lot of their first big race. We started slow and in a race with the caliber of athletes that were out there today, we just couldn’t recover. Today was not a good effort. Our women know they are capable of much better.”
“On the bright side, the Division I season just started and we have many more meets ahead of us. We definitely learned a lot today, both individually and as a team. We’ve got to keep our heads up and keep fighting. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we will come back much stronger.”
On the men’s side, junior Jeremy Freed was the only Ram to finish in the top 35 of the 8K race, coming in 16th place with a time of 24:42.49. The race was won by top-ranked defending national champion Oregon, followed by No. 7 Portland and No. 5 Alabama.
“While the men could have ran a little better today, overall I’m a little more pleased with their race,” Berryhill continued. “The men faced much tougher competition than the women did, and half of our guys did what they were supposed to today. Jeremy Freed ran a great race today. Coming off of an injury, he’s spent the last few weeks rehabbing, and for his first race back, I’m happy.”
“The men need to learn to compete more in the middle part of the race. We’re real close to where we need to be. I think that with some practice, we could surprise a few people the rest of the season.”
The Rams will get back to practice this week in preparation for their next race, the NCAA pre-nationals, to be held Oct. 18 in Terre Haute, Ind., on the same course where the NCAA championships will be held in late November.
Women’s times (overall finish): Ellie Rastall 21:31.91 (21), Marissa Saunders 21:36.40 (24), Nicole Peters 21:56.29 (39), Kendra Gerk 22:17.31 (54), Kirsten Anthony 22:24.52 (56), Lauren Kleppin 22:24.52 (57), Allison Gohl 22:24.62 (58), Crystal Pitney 22:34.26 (62), Michelle Dettman 22:50.65 (71).
Men’s times (overall finish): Jeremy Freed 24:42.49 (16), Daniel Wallis 25:11.20 (38), Jake Keyser 25:24.35 (40), Scott Sanders 25:33.30 (46), Wil Buchanan 25:45.00 (55), Ryan Friese 25:45.61 (57), Andrew Mauk 25:54.94 (58), Jeff Holt 26:08.23 (64), Kip Taylor 26:36.62 (69).
